Brown, Vera Scantlebury (1889–1946)

Australian doctor who was instrumental in establishing state infant welfare clinics. Born Vera Scantlebury in Australia on August 7, 1889; died on July 14, 1946 (some sources cite 1945); daughter of G.J. (a doctor) and Catherine (Baynes) Scantlebury; attended Toorak College, a small private school; M.D., University of Melbourne, 1913; married Edward Brown (a professor of engineering, University of Melbourne), September 1926; children: two.

Vera Brown was instrumental in establishing a system of infant welfare clinics throughout Victoria, Australia, through her work in preventative health care for children. During Brown's youth, her independent-minded mother oversaw her education, which culminated in graduation from the University of Melbourne in 1913 with an M.D. After her residency at Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Brown worked in a London military hospital during World War I before returning to Melbourne in 1919. But she was unable to get a private practice under way and had to accept several short-term appointments before assuming the position of medical officer of the newly established Victorian Baby Health Centres Association, where she lectured on mother and infant care to nurse trainees.

With increasing commitment to the infant care movement, Brown completed specialized training in children's diseases in 1924 and made a study tour to New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Upon her return, she was asked by the Victorian government to work with an English doctor, Henrietta Main , on a study comparing infant welfare in Victoria with that in New Zealand, where a State supported system of clinics was already in place. The report, completed in 1926, maintained that infant mortality rates would further decline with the establishment of a position of director of Infant Welfare and a network of well-staffed clinics throughout Victoria. Given her own responsibilities as a wife and mother, Brown accepted the recommended position of director on a part-time basis. She worked to bring together rival factions in the infant welfare movement and to standardize training and procedure in the clinics. Her own testing of infant formulas and measuring implements resulted in a manual on artificial feeding. Her interests eventually broadened to include maternal health, and she later added preschools to her department. In 1938, Brown was awarded an OBE for her work, which she continued in spite of her own poor health. She died on July 14, 1946.